8 Best Foods for Healthy Heart

Focusing on eating the best foods to keep your heart healthy is one way to control your risks for heart disease.

While genetics and lifestyle choices like smoking and exercising play a role in heart health, it's important to choose foods that are good for you. That can mean foods that lower cholesterol, foods that don't contain salt, and foods that help to keep weight in control, as obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular problems.

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Here are eight foods that will help keep your heart healthy:

1. Salmon – Packed with omega-3 fatty acids, salmon is good for you. "Omega-3s have an anti-clotting effect, so they keep your blood flowing,” Rachel Johnson, PhD, RD, told WebMD. The American Heart Association recommends a 3.5 ounce serving of oily fish twice a week.

2. Raspberries, strawberries, and other berries — Berries like these contain polyphenols, WebMD said, explaining that they are antioxidants that "mop up damage-causing free radicals in your body."

3. Whole grains – These healthy grains lower heart risk, according to EatingWell. Along with antioxidants and other heart-healthy components, whole grains have fiber, and high-fiber diets have been linked to lower cardiovascular risk. Soluble fibers also affect cholesterol in a good way.

4. Beans – EatingWell quoted from a study in the Journal of Nutrition that found ½ cup of cooked pinto beans every day may lower cholesterol. The soluble fiber in beans is helpful, binding to cholesterol and keeping the gut from absorbing it. Beans also have flavonoids (which you've probably heard about in red wine) and other things that protect the heart, the website said.

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5. Oatmeal – A type of fiber in the oats can lower "bad" cholesterol, WebMD said. Called beta-glucan, the fiber is also found in barley, shiitake mushrooms, and seaweed.

6. Dark chocolate – It's time for the happy dance when you see "chocolate" on any good foods list. But WebMD said cacao, which gives us chocolate, is high in flavanols, which can act as an antioxidant, lower blood pressure, and prevent blood clots.

7. Avocados – These luscious fruits have good fats that lower bad cholesterol, WebMD said. "They also seem to have an anti-inflammatory effect, so you don’t get chronic inflammation that makes atherosclerosis — the hardening of artery walls — worse,” Johnson told the medical website.

8. Nuts – "Research suggests that people who eat nuts — walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, pine nuts and peanuts (which actually are legumes) — two to four days or more per week have a lower incidence of heart disease than people who eat them less often," EatingWell wrote.

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